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NAIROBI, Kenya — U.S. airstrikes in Somalia have surged more than tenfold this year under the Trump administration, with U.S. Africa Command saying it has conducted 101 strikes so far in 2025, compared with 10 missions in all of 2024 under President Biden. AFRICOM confirmed the figures to Fox News Digital and said operations are targeting ISIS-Somalia cells and the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab insurgency. The latest operation unfolded Tuesday in Puntland State, northeastern Somalia, where AFRICOM said it carried out an…

BAIDOA, Somalia — South West State President Abdiasis Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen has condemned the spread of illegal checkpoints across the region, calling them a major threat to civilian movement and safety and urging communities to back justice and stabilization efforts. Laftagareen said armed individuals obstructing travelers on public roads is “unacceptable,” especially as South West State navigates severe drought and recurring conflict that continue to disrupt livelihoods and strain security. “It is unacceptable…

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somali special forces and regional security units said they killed a senior al-Shabab commander during a planned nighttime operation in the Jamaame district of the Lower Jubba region, as government-aligned troops intensified a weeks-long push to retake areas long held by the militants. Jubbaland authorities said Friday that Danab commandos, operating alongside Jubbaland’s Dervish forces, targeted a group of al-Shabab fighters late Thursday and killed a commander identified as Farah Jibriil and seven…

MOGADISHU — Somali police in the Hamarweyne district arrested a Somali National Army soldier on Saturday after a video widely shared on social media appeared to show him abusing a woman vendor at the busy Hamarweyne market, authorities said. The suspect was identified by police as Abdifatah Mohamed Ibrahim, a member of the Somali National Army. He is in custody and will be transferred to court, the Banadir Regional Police Command said in a statement. “The suspect is in police custody and will be referred to the…

LUANDA, Angola — The AU–EU summit in Luanda on Nov. 24–25 marked 25 years of a formal partnership, and it delivered the familiar choreography: a joint declaration, carefully worded communiqués, promises to deepen cooperation on trade, climate, migration and security. For Somalia — confronting a stubborn insurgency, maritime insecurity and a pressing need for jobs — the measure of success is not rhetoric but whether Africa and Europe can strike a new, more equal bargain that translates summit language into action. The…

Opinion | Ilhan Omar Must Reassess Her Escalating War of Words with Donald Trump The clash between Rep. Ilhan Omar and President Donald Trump has entered a phase where the volume of rhetoric risks drowning out the lives at stake. With the White House reviving a hard-line immigration agenda and ending protections that stabilized Somali-American families for decades, the cost of political grandstanding is no longer theoretical. It is immediate, personal and potentially irreversible for tens of thousands in Minnesota and…

MOGADISHU — Somalia has acceded to the Convention on the International Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO), a step the federal government says will upgrade the country’s maritime safety, search-and-rescue capacity and technological integration across its busy coastline. Ports and Marine Transport Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nor deposited Somalia’s instrument of accession during a meeting with International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez on the sidelines of the IMO Assembly’s 34th regular…

Kenya’s High Court on Thursday struck down parts of a decade-old seed law, clearing the way for small-scale farmers to save and share local seed varieties without fear of prosecution — a decision celebrated as a major victory for “food sovereignty” advocates and rural communities. In a ruling delivered in Machakos, about 60 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of Nairobi, the court found provisions of the 2012 Seed and Plant Varieties Act unconstitutional. Those provisions had criminalized saving uncertified seeds and then…

Somalia’s growth is hitting an avoidable ceiling: the price and reliability of electricity. The country’s telecom sector—quietly swapping diesel generators for sunlight—offers a clear, local blueprint for how to lower costs, cut emissions and power a modern economy. If energy is the missing link, renewables are the bridge.

MOGADISHU — Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) has arrested 11 people accused of plotting terrorist attacks and conducting espionage against the government and civilians, the agency said Thursday, describing a covert cell disrupted in Mogadishu and across parts of Lower and Middle Shabelle. In a statement, NISA said the suspects were allegedly in the advanced stages of planning violence and gathering intelligence to enable attacks. The arrests followed what the agency called a sophisticated,…